Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is talking with the president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Todd Wilkinson, about the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting taking place on July 24-26 in San Diego.
Our coverage from the 2023 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in San Diego is being powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater.
One of the issues that will be discussed at the meeting this week, Wilkinson said, is ensuring that cell-based meat is properly labeled for consumers.
“USDA recently approved sales in public of a chicken product produced in a bioreactor, and it is in some restaurants,” Wilkinson said.
Looking into the next five to ten years in the beef industry, Wilkinson said his biggest concern is the mislabeling of cell-based meat. This cell-based meat is a different beast than vegan products, Wilkinson said, as the public has shown they do not show a huge interest in those vegan products over true meat products.
“If we don’t have a handle on this, and we don’t get it labeled properly, (we are) very concerned that the beef industry is going to have the problems that the milk industry had 25 years ago,” Wilkinson said. “If that consumer, when he or she walks up to that meat counter and sees a package of hamburger, and it doesn’t differentiate between lab-grown stuff and the natural product, we are losing the war.”
Another hot topic is the new Waters of the U.S. ruling by the Supreme Court.
“You expect that the Biden Administration through the EPA would pull back to propose EPA rule, but no,” Wilkinson said. “Rather than pull back, they are going to try and tweak their proposed rule.
As the Supreme Court said “no” to significant nexus, which is the basis of the Biden Administration’s WOTUS rule, Wilkinson said he does not see how their rule can be tweaked.
“I think what we are going to see is the Biden Administration not willing to admit defeat, and now we are having to go back into court again in Texas and in North Dakota and seek an injunction, and we are spending all kinds of money again to fight back against the EPA who has already lost,” Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson said he believes the WOTUS fight will be ongoing for years.
“It is wonderful to get a 9-0 court decision that clearly demonstrates to the logical-minded people that the EPA has been way off base for a long time,” Wilkinson said.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
